You were Out of Service last week, going Dartmouth-bound on the MacDonald. I was standing at the bottom of North St, waiting for the #1, and you stopped to let me and 2 others on, even though you didn’t have to. When i tried to put my ticket into the money counter you said not to, and then when i was getting off, you handed me a transfer anyway, along with a nice smile and a ‘have a good day’!
Well, Mr bus driver, i’d like to say thank you. That kind gesture of yours set a really positive tone to my day, and every time i think about it i smile. There should be more drivers like you in HRM!!
—Dartmouth-bound girl
This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2009.
Fuck, they should rename this column: Love the Way We Bus Bitch. Doesn’t anybody drive a fucking car to work anymore??
Or bike? btw this belongs in LTWWL.
A very nice bus driver did this once when a bunch of us were standing at the same stop waiting to cross the bridge. Apparently it’s a big MT no no and the driver could’ve got into a lot of trouble (which is why he said not to put your ticket in)…some are just nice like that though 🙂
Maybe it was PDG??? lol
Great post.
What in the fuck is wrong with taking the bus to work ttfn?
Nothing, Pep. People’s choices do vary HOWEVER.
I wish I got on buses with nice drivers like you did.
Dino’s right. People’s tastes vary. Some days I’d rather get an enema than take the bus to work, others I like the time to sit and think and listen to my ipod 😛
Hey, pep, I did the bus thing for over 20 years before I moved out of the hellhole that Halifax became for me. I carpool and driving in with three other rational individuals is a lot easier on my head than a crammed busload of people being people.
People stink, they fart and scratch, yell into cell phones, assault you when you’re standing, shoot you with crowbar glares when you sit next to them, moaning about their lousy lives, staring at you like Moonies in the No Zone, poking, prodding and kicking…don’t even get me started on the drivers – that’s a whole other kittle of rotting fish.
Just wait this driver, doing his part to improve relations (kudos to the driver), will probably get suspended or fired for having unauthorized passengers. Which would be par for course.
yeah, write his ass up….
and I don’t think it’s PDG since he seems to know the rules pretty well.
TTFN, you forgot to add pole riding to the list…
kitty’s living proof.
I’m flattered you thought it was me PK, but alas, it is not so. 🙁 Ah well, you’ll figure out who I am someday.
The rules involving OOS aren’t as strict as you’d think.
– Deviating from the OOS route is a no-no.
– Picking up passengers while OOS isn’t against any rule, but it is the driver’s choice.
In this case, the driver was certain the people at the foot of North St. were headed across the bridge and since the terminal was on his way, this broke no rules. In most other situations though, we don’t have time to stop and ask passengers if they’re going our way, so we usually don’t. The last time I did carry a passenger OOS was when I was driving the 80 one night. At the end of my night, he asked (ahead of time, that’s the key) if I could drop him off by Ocean Towers since I was heading that way anyway. I did.
I say we clone PDG oh…. 100 odd times.
you’d be up for that, right?
I know the city could use a few more decent/knowledgeable metro drivers.